VacationSelector
The Elbphilharmonie from the water, Hamburg
HamburgThe Elbphilharmonie from the water
York Minster from the city walls, York
YorkYork Minster from the city walls

Photos: Hamburg by Wolfgang Weiser, Pexels License; York by PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Hamburg or York?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Hamburg for

  • live music and the arts
  • nightlife
  • shopping

What lies behind each score is written up on Hamburg’s own page.

Choose York for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • day trips
  • culture and sights

What lies behind each score is written up on York’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Hamburg 28, York 14: Hamburg leads by 14 points.
Food & drink. Hamburg 55, York 42: Hamburg leads by 13 points.
Culture & sights. Hamburg 62, York 70: York leads by 8 points.
Nightlife. Hamburg 76, York 36: Hamburg leads by 40 points.
Nature & outdoors. Hamburg 52, York 62: York leads by 10 points.
Day trips. Hamburg 70, York 80: York leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Hamburg 74, York 60: Hamburg leads by 14 points.
Getting around. Hamburg 80, York 72: Hamburg leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Hamburg 65, York 46: Hamburg leads by 19 points.
Affordability. Hamburg and York are level on 38.
Live music & performing arts. Hamburg 80, York 38: Hamburg leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Hamburg 44, York 34: Hamburg leads by 10 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Hamburg and York.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Hamburg
Best match
60match

Wins on live music and the arts and nightlife with your weighting.

York
49match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Hamburg in July

23 °Cdaytime high
13 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
17 hdaylight a day

York in July

21 °Cdaytime high
12 °Cnight-time low
62 mmrain in the month
6 hsunshine a day
17 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°5°10°15°20°25°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

020406080100JFMAMJJASOND
HamburgYork

Where the figures come from

York has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

York's sunshine is measured 48 km from the centre, at Leeming.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Hamburg: 1991-2020 normals, Hamburg Airport (9.3 km from centre). York: 1991-2020 normals, Linton-On-Ouse (14.9 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureHamburgYork
Official languageGermanEnglish
CurrencyEuro (EUR)Pound Sterling (GBP)
SocketsCF230 V, 50 HzG230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+1, UTC+2 in summerUTC, UTC+1 in summer
Emergency number112112 or 999
Elevation6 m25 m
Main airportHamburg Helmut Schmidt Airport (HAM)9 km from centre120 non-stop destinationsLeeds Bradford Airport (LBA)39 km from centre69 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year10 days8 days

By the numbers

MeasureHamburgYork
City population1,869,473208,400
People per km²2,476766
Museums within 10 km7724
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km12

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Hamburg or York somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Tourism statistics from Eurostat, © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.